Parents protest about overcrowding at St. Peter’s

Derek Sullivan, chairman of the St. Peter's School Council speaks at a protest outside the school this morning. — Photo by James McLeod/The Telegram

About a hundred parents and kids were out in front of St. Peter’s Elementary in Mount Pearl this morning, chanting and speaking about overcrowding issues at the school.

Derek Sullivan, who chairs the school council, said that the school is bursting at the seams and “the situation is getting worse.”

As part of this spring’s changes to the teacher allocation formula, St. Peter’s went from two vice-principals to one. Moreover there are hundreds more students in the school than it was originally designed for.

“Something is wrong with the math when you add students and subtract teachers,” Sullivan said. “We can fit 20 kids in an elevator, but they’re not going to learn anything while they’re in there.”

Mount Pearl MHA Paul Lane was at the protest, and said that he recognizes the situation is difficult, but he said he’s trying to arrange meetings with the parents and the minister of education to find a fix.

Sullivan said they understand that there’s no quick fix, but as a compromise, the school board should reverse the decision to get rid of the second vice- principal.